Insights and Perspectives

We have received a reader question from our August Newsletter http://mkgip.com/ajax/EmailPreview.php?RF_ITEM[]=Email$0@16;Email
The reader asks:
                My company develops special formulations for customers that are typically using virgin plastic resins.  We replace that material with ours which contains various biomass, i.e., corncobs, sunflower hulls.  My question is how do we protect our formulations from competitors in the industry?  [...]

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In these sweltering August days, it’s always nice to relax with a cool drink loaded with ice.  What’s that you say?  It would be even better if your drink was more fun!  Well, rest easy, inventor Cheng Feng Liu of China is way ahead of you.  Mr. Liu has patented the Battery Powered Illuminated Ice [...]

One of our readers has asked the following question: A musician obtains a copyright on a sound recording (music and lyrics) when it is placed on a tangible medium and includes the phrase “copyright/authors/name/date of creation/All Rights Reserved.  Registering the copyright does not give you a “copyright” that carries more legality than the first scenario [...]

   Section 1201 of the copyright law (17 U.S.C. §1201(a)(1)) requires every three years that the Librarian of Congress determine whether there are any classes of works that will be subject to exemptions from prohibition against the circumvention of Digital Rights Management (DRM), which is a form of technology that controls access to a copyrighted work.  [...]

 As previously explored in this column, there are benefits and pitfalls to the marking of patented products.  While not required under U.S. Patent law, marking is beneficial in providing constructive notice to others that the product is patented and damages for infringement may accrue from the date of constructive notice.  Failure to mark a patented [...]

The United States Constitution states that “the Congress shall have power to promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.”  U.S. Const. Art. I, Sec. 8, Cl. 8.  These principles were codified in U.S. patent law which [...]

Anheuser-Busch filed its first U.S. application for registration of their “BUDWEISER” trademark for beer in 1905 and claimed an 1876 date of first use of the mark.  Since then, Anheuser-Busch has obtained scores of registrations for the “BUDWEISER” trademark in the U.S. and in many foreign countries. 
      However, the European Union’s High Court refused Anheuser-Busch’s application [...]

 In June of this year, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down the ruling in the case of Bilski v. Kapos, which as we all hoped, would have provided a clear definition, or test, of what is considered to be patentable subject matter. Unfortunately, the Bilski decision provided little guidance.
      The Supreme Court’s [...]

Lately there have been a few suits popping up involving well-known rap artists allegedly infringing the copyrights of others.  Where this typically occurs is when rap artist, rap over popular melodies of older songs.  One must bear in mind that many of the melodies are still subject to copyright protection and as such the artist [...]